Too fancy but still fascinatingly shot, Birdman (2014) is a notable film but not a great one. Though awash in coarse language, its serious and personal nature is potent, and it can be funny. It asks how an individual’s sense of worth is to be had in the present world, especially with moral and emotional failure so pervasive. It’s a great question, notwithstanding the movie’s ending is meaningless.

Michael Keaton is extraordinary in Birdman, while Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and many others are thrilling strong.